Children

Under a UK immigration law a parent can bring a child who is not a British to the United Kingdom in limited circumstances.

The first requirement is that the parents of the child either are British or hold indefinite leave to remain. It is usually the case that either both parents are travelling to the United Kingdom or only parent is alive.

The single biggest ground of refusal is where one parent is in the United Kingdom and the other parent, (usually due to divorce) is back in the home country. In the circumstances the parent in the United Kingdom has to prove that they have sole responsibility for the child who is looking to make the immigration application.

The sole responsibility test is a complex and many cases are won or lost on this point. Essentially, for the immigration application to be successful, the UK based parent can show that although they do not have day-to-day contact with the child in question, they do make all the crucial long-term decisions for the child.

These decisions can include:

1. The location of the child’s schooling;
2. Where the child lives;
3. Decisions on whether the child is allowed to travel on holiday or on school trips;
4. What religious occasions of the child will observe and;
5. To ensure that the child schooling is undertaken correctly, including checking reports etc
6. There is usually a financial aspect of the case also, who is paying
for the child’s upkeep.

Please note that this test is different than who has custody of the child, although of course the two things are linked.

The other requirements are that the child must be under the age of 18.

The child must not be living in independent life and must be unmarried or not formed an independent family unit.

A further requirement is that the child must be accommodated properly by the parents, in other words there is physical space at the parents’ home in United Kingdom for the child to live.

There is a further UKBA requirement that there is enough financial ability of the part of the parents to live in United Kingdom without recourse to public funds all about public funds being applied for.

Please contact our leading immigration lawyers for further assistance

info@westkin.com

© 2011 Westkin - London Immigration Lawyers